Name/Title
The Last Bar-B-QueEntry/Object ID
2021.06Description
A ten-color lithograph depicting a contemporary "Last Supper." The foreground has a table set with vivid colors. 11 people sit around the table, eating barbecue. Three of the figures are depicted in blue. The background depicts a pyramid, the night sky, and a field of crops.Context
The Last Bar-B-Que, printed at the Tamarind Institute, is a contemporary take on Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, replacing the formal supper with a backyard bar-b-que, including the traditional loaves, fishes, and wine mixed with watermelon, pineapple, mango and roasted chickens atop a colorful tablecloth. The diversity of the figures seated at the table is very different from the Italian versions of this scene. Here, Humphrey’s characters are both men and women and depict a diasporic range of skin colors and backgrounds. As Humphrey explained, it is “a rewriting of history through the eyes of my ancestry, a portrayal of a savior who looks like my people.” The symbolism strewn throughout the work in its flora and fauna add an energetic, if surreal, vibrancy and link it heavily to the period of its creation in the mid-1980s, from the hibiscus, calla lilies and tulips to the peace dove at center, and the zebras, lions, and birds in the Cosby-like sweaters of the characters at the table.Acquisition
Accession
2021.06-13Source or Donor
Dick Hamilton, Jan HamiltonAcquisition Method
GiftCredit Line
Gift of Dick and Jan HamiltonLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Tertiary Object Term
LithographNomenclature Secondary Object Term
Print, PlanographicNomenclature Primary Object Term
PrintNomenclature Sub-Class
Graphic DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsLOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Barbecues, Dinner parties, ChristianDimensions
Height
26 inWidth
38-1/2 inDimension Notes
unframed